EXCLUSIVE: SpinMedia Adds Execs in LA, New York

Here’s one way to jazz up the purview of corporate HR. Instead of name-plating the door with “senior vice president, human resources,” opt instead for the moniker of chief people officer.

Megan Opp, most recently with the solar power technology firm eSolar, is joining SpinMedia in that CPO capacity. She is one of four new hires being announced this afternoon by the company, which recently re-branded itself from BuzzMedia.

Also set for the LA SpinMedia executive suite are Louisa Wee, senior vice president of business intelligence and strategic analytics, and Scott Southron, the company’s new CFO. In New York meanwhile, where two-thirds of SpinMedia staff is headquartered, Michelle McIvor is coming on board as vice president of audience development.

As FishbowlLA recently also exclusively reported, former Gawker EIC A.J. Daulerio is currently consulting to SpinMedia on the big-picture, 45-website level. Together with this new quartet, he is evidently going to be responsible for some major tactical changes.

Wee, a Stanford MBA and USC grad, is coming over from eHarmony, where she handled things like customer acquisition and retention, pricing and revenue generation. McIvor was previously director of community and social marketing for XO Group Inc. (formerly The Knot, Inc.) and has also held positions at Shape magazine and iVillage/NBC Universal. Southron, who will report directly to SpinMedia CEO Stephen Hansen, has 24 years of experience with The Walt Disney Company, MCI/Worldcom, PriceWaterhouse, Lyon Apartment Companies and Roth Capital Partners.

This is an extremely impressive group of management hires. “We’re assembling a next-generation media company built on the best people and insights in the business,” says Hansen in the forthcoming release. “The addition of these four well-respected industry professionals will help us advance our mission of building thriving editorial communities that leave readers obsessed and wanting more.”

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